The Doll - Bolesaw Prus [329]
‘He ought to be cheerful,’ Mrs Wąsowska interrupted, ‘for he has been flirting with me all the way from the bank, and to very good purpose. On the corner of the Boulevard I let him undo two buttons on my glove, and kiss my hand. If you knew, Bela, how little he knows about kissing …’
‘Is that so?’ exclaimed Ochocki, blushing to the roots of his hair, ‘very well! From now on, I will never kiss your hand again. I swear it!’
‘You will kiss them both before this day is over,’ Mrs Wąsowska retorted.
‘May I pay my respects to Mr Łęcki?’ Ochocki asked formally, and without waiting for Izabela to reply he walked out of the room.
‘You embarrassed him,’ said Izabela.
‘He shouldn’t flirt if he doesn’t know how. In such things, clumsiness is a mortal sin. Isn’t it?’
‘When did you get back?’
‘Yesterday morning,’ Mrs Wąsowska replied, ‘but I had to go to the bank twice, and to the stores, and to set things right at home. Meanwhile, Ochocki is helping me until I find someone more diverting. If you can surrender someone more interesting …’ she added pointedly.
‘What rumours are these!’ said Izabela, blushing.
‘They even reached me in the country. Starski was telling me, not without envy, that this year as always you, of course, are the queen. Apparently Szatalski has quite lost his head.’
‘And both his boring friends, too,’ Izabela put in, with a smile. ‘All three fall in love with me each evening, each has proposed to me at a time which wouldn’t interfere with the others, and later all three confided their sorrows in one another. These gentlemen do everything in company.’
‘And what did you have to say?’
Izabela shrugged. ‘Do you really want me to tell you?’ she asked.
‘I also heard,’ Mrs Wąsowska said, ‘that Wokulski has proposed.’
Izabela began toying with the fringe of her gown: ‘Well, he proposed! He proposes to me whenever he sees me: whether he’s looking at me, or not — speaking or not … like all men.’
‘And you?’
‘For the time being, I am proceeding with my campaign.’
‘May one know what it is?’
‘Of course, I don’t want it to be a secret. First, while I was still at the Duchess’s … how is she?’
‘Very poorly,’ Mrs Wąsowska replied, ‘Starski hardly leaves her room now, and the notary comes every day, but apparently in vain … So, what of the campaign?’
‘While I was at Zasławek,’ Izabela went on, ‘I mentioned disposing of his store (here a blush came over her) and now it’s to be sold by June at the latest.’
‘Capital! What next?’
‘I’m having trouble with that trading company. He would jettison it immediately, of course, but I am in two minds. With the company, his income is about ninety thousand roubles and only thirty thousand without it, so you can understand my hesitation is natural.’
‘I see you’re becoming an expert in figures.’
Izabela made a contemptuous gesture: ‘Oh, I’m sure I’ll never understand them. But he explains it to … father too, and aunt.’
‘Do you speak so openly to him?’
‘Well, no … But because we aren’t allowed to ask so many things, we have to guide conversations so that everything is told us. Surely you know that?’
‘Of course. And what next?’ Mrs Wąsowska asked, not without a trace of impatience.
‘The last condition concerns a purely moral aspect. I have learned that he has no family, which is his greatest virtue, and I have reserved the right to keep all my friends.’
‘And he agreed without protesting?’
Izabela gazed rather scornfully at her friend. ‘Can you doubt it?’ she said.
‘Not for a moment. So — Starski, Szatalski …’
‘Yes, Starski, Szatalski, the Prince, Malborg … In a word, all the men it pleases me to choose today and in future, all of them must be guests in my home. Can it be otherwise?’
‘Quite right. But don’t you fear jealous scenes?’
Izabela laughed: ‘Me in scenes! … Jealousy and Wokulski! … ha ha ha! There is no man in the world would dare make a scene to me, least of all he. You have no idea of his adoration, his surrender … And his limitless trust, even his yielding of his own individuality — really disarm me. Who knows whether they alone are not